


The Great Library Bake-Off

by blessedharlot



Category: The Great British Bake Off RPF, The Great Library Series - Rachel Caine
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Great British Bake Off Fusion, Baking, Banter, Buttercream Warning, Competition, Food, Gen, so much sugar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22274245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blessedharlot/pseuds/blessedharlot
Summary: You should be absolutely certain you're hungry for sugary silliness before reading, because the Great Library is having a baking throwdown! There are macarons everywhere and no one is safe!
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	The Great Library Bake-Off

**Author's Note:**

> It’s a crossover! With full canon compliance! Oh yes! Just imagine, if you will, that it’s about two years out from series end, and somehow technology has advanced *exactly* enough to pit Library staff against each other over mixing bowls. And also, Paul Hollywood and friends all just sprang up fully formed to run this show.
> 
> If you haven’t seen The Great British Bake-Off, don’t worry. It’s just like any competition show you’ve seen, but nicer. There are two hosts, and two judges, and I’ll explain the rest as we go along…

A short blond woman and a tall goth boy frolic on a hillside. Between them is a stuffed teddy bear taller than either of them. The short host, Sandi, attempts to make the teddy bear move from behind.

NOEL: Sandi, what is this?

SANDI: Isn’t she great? Thomas Schreiber made her for us.

Sandi tries to make the teddy bear move again, awkwardly.

NOEL: But that’s… that’s just a plush animal. Thomas makes automatons. This one doesn’t…

Sandi wedges herself under the very large teddy arm to wave it.

NOEL: YOU’RE doing that! Automatons move on their own. This bear doesn’t move on her own! At all!

SANDI: Well, she’s very tired.

Noel looks exasperated.

SANDI: You know what I think she needs to lift her spirits?

NOEL: A Showstopper?

SANDI: A Showstopper!!

Upbeat music begins, along with a montage of people baking. Ten different people - some readers would recognize and some they wouldn’t - bake breads, pies, patisserie treats and biscuits, and present them to two judges over the past nine weeks.

VOICEOVER NOEL: Today is the very last challenge of the season at the Great Library Bake-Off. Ten bakers - Scholars, librarians and Garda alike - fought their way with spoon and pan in hand through weeks of hard work. But only three won the chance to be here, for this last round of judging. The only thing standing between the bakers and the coveted Bake-off Cake Stand is one single Showstopping cake.. and the distinguished tastes of our judges, Prue and Paul.

In footage from yesterday, Thomas lays a sheet of marzipan on top of a cake.

VO SANDI: Yesterday, Thomas won the Technical Challenge, wowing the judges with his prinsesstårta, though his Signature Challenge went less swimmingly.

PRUE ONSCREEN: We know Thomas’ Showstopper today will be magnificently engineered. We know this going in. What’s less clear is how far he will challenge himself on his flavors. This is the Showstopper of the final round. Weeks of baking, weeks of improving his skills and growing as a baker. I want his flavors to be absolutely extraordinary.

Standing in front of a cake, Dario fusses with his apron until it lays perfectly across him.

VO SANDI: Dario struggled in his Signature Challenge yesterday, but redeemed himself with the skill and precision he showed in his Technical Challenge.

PAUL ONSCREEN: Dario is well-versed in many European delicacies, he's been exposed to a great deal of baking genius, and this has served him well, even if he struggles sometimes to produce the pieces at the quality he wants. His taste and instincts are flawless, when he can back them up, and that can win him this competition. But he’s got to back them up today.

Jess pipes icing onto the bottom edge of a small, green cake.

VO SANDI: Jess once again impressed the judges with his creative flavor combinations in the Signature Challenge yesterday. But, once again, he came last in the Technical.

PRUE: Jess is the newest to baking, having only practiced this last year or so, and that shows. He has given the most erratic and uneven performance of the three bakers who have gotten this far. But it’s not an accident that he’s here. When he’s on, he’s very very good. He’s inventive and interesting and whether his bakes come out edible or not, they are never dull. And if he has a good day, he could easily take this competition.

Cut to the inside of a tidy, fresh-looking white tent, where three empty baking stations wait as Thomas, Dario and Jess each step behind one of them.

A decorative placard reads “THE GREAT LIBRARY BAKE-OFF” to open the show, and a last flourish of music plays.

Bakers stand behind their stations and judges PRUE and PAUL stand to one side, along with hosts SANDI and NOEL.

SANDI: Welcome, bakers! To your final day of the competition! You have vanquished all other competitors! You have won Prue and Paul over with your marvelous creations, and today is the day that one of you is crowned the winner of it all.

NOEL: Your assignment today, as you well know, is to create a Showstopper of a cake, and this week that Showstopper must be based on your favorite book.

Cameras catch nods from each baker.

NOEL: The judges insist your cake must have at least three tiers. It must be frosted, it must feature biscuits. And the theme of your cake must tie in to your all-time favorite book in the world.

SANDI: And you have four hours to construct the cake that will win you the status that will shape your lives forever and evermore, changing everything from here on-

NOEL: On your mark get set BAKE!

The boys immediately get to work, diving into ingredients and preparing pans. The judges leave, and the hosts begin to circulate.

As the bakers begin preparing their ingredients, video footage and interview snippets play over and around their work. 

First, we see Thomas begin to pour and sift flour for his cake today.

VO THOMAS: Baking always reminds me of my family… my parents, and my adopted family in the Library. 

Footage starts of Thomas sitting at a table on a back porch somewhere, with his father, Kurt. 

KURT: Thomas makes me proud with each thing he does. His baking has just as much of a spark of love for the world as does all his other hard work.

We see Thomas and his mother Hilde standing at a kitchen counter, chatting quietly while Hilde bakes.

VO THOMAS: There’s nothing better than feeding people you love. There’s nothing better than making sure they stop work long enough to eat! That’s a sticking point with my friends. They need to know they’re cared for. That’s so important.

We return to Thomas in the tent right now, working a mixer.

VO NOEL: Today, Thomas will make a black cherry chocolate cake, with a brandied cherry reduction filling, and ermine buttercream. The cake will be decorated with chocolate cherry biscuits. And, befitting Thomas, the cake will be decorated with an engineering marvel.

Thomas stands at the mixer and chats with Sandi.

THOMAS: Heron’s  _ Pneumatica  _ just beats out his  _ Automata  _ volume, for me, for favorite book in the world. There’s a broader range of machines in  _ Pneumatica _ , and just more to it to make your eyes go wide with excitement. The best invention in there is a water organ.

Thomas holds a length of narrow metal tubing in his hands as he speaks, and starts gesturing with it.

THOMAS: It’s based on the Hydraulis at Dion. The lower tiers have a water source, and then the upper tiers have pipes and a keyboard. It took quite a light touch, apparently, to play. No heavy muscle was needed, or so says the poet Claudian.

SANDI: Are you going to build us an instrument, Thomas?

THOMAS: I’m not certain of its full capabilities yet, I need to spend most of my time making an edible cake! But there will be something of that instrument at least represented on the cake.

Thomas smiles, and Sandi smiles back.

We cut to Dario, in the tent, measuring sugar. Then we cut to previous footage of him leaning on a beautiful balcony, watching a sunset next to Khalila.

VO DARIO: I'd always grown up with fine cakes, chocolatiers, master pastry chefs and the like. But after the upheaval, coming back to some calmer life, I just got so enamoured with the thought of managing some of that myself. I wanted to see how good I could get at it. And, I suppose, perhaps I wanted to impress a girl.

Khalila stands at a kitchen counter, watching Dario roll out a pie crust while they chat.

KHALILA: It’s been a delight to see Dario so competitive with the others, to see him work so tirelessly to perfect his work each week. And it’s been a delight of course to eat all the results!

We return to Dario working right now on a cake batter.

VO NOEL: Dario’s cake will be an orange and aniseed cake, with whipped honey buttercream. The cake will be decorated with orange chocolate macarons and edible sugared flowers.

As Dario mixes his batter, Sandi stands next to him.

DARIO: My favorite book is… well, it’s a romance novel, from ancient Greece, by the name of  _ Daphnis and Chloe _ . Library staff will know it well from the incident where Scholar Courier discovered a long lost page... and then promptly spilled ink all over it. It’s an exquisitely sweet story about a naive shepherd and shepherdess falling in love, that has inspired a long tradition of operas and ballets. So why not a cake?

The camera then catches Jess, in the tent, pouring nuts into a bowl. The scene cuts away to footage of Jess standing at a kitchen counter next to Nic, working on something together.

VO JESS: Baking began as a way to settle my head. All the enormous changes in the Library, most would agree, it’s a lot to take in! I assisted Thomas in the kitchen with a project or two, and then Commander Santi. Pretty soon, I got it in my head to figure it out myself, when they were too busy. It was appealing, the idea of feeding people. Making myself useful. 

In previous footage, Jess sits on a couch with his mother, chatting.

CHARITY: Jess can do anything he sets his mind too. That’s always been true. This is nothing he got from me! I don’t know my way around a kitchen, but he’s done marvelously.

The camera returns to Jess today, putting parchment paper in a pan.

VO NOEL: Jess is making a pistachio and coffee cake with a cardamom coffee buttercream. His biscuits will be coffee mascarpone macarons.

Jess taps and circles a pan in the air as he flours it, and chats with Sandi.

JESS: My favorite book as a child was  _ Inventio Fortunata _ . It was… it was just so exciting, as a kid. These adventures in strange and faraway lands! So my cake is reflecting the friar’s experience of visiting the North Pole. So I hope… I hope I can show you a Pole and then a whirlpool flowing down to four continent cakes underneath.

\----

The bakers continue to work on their cakes, while the hosts circulate. Noel stops at Thomas’ station and watches a while.

NOEL: So I can’t help but notice, in a Library-wide competition, the three left of the original ten bakers are the three bakers who trained under Scholar Christopher Wolfe. You were all in that class, yes?

Thomas: That’s true, yes.

NOEL: Is that significant, do you think? Did he impart some baking wisdom on you?

THOMAS: Baking wisdom?

NOEL: Yes, baking wisdom.

THOMAS: No.

NOEL: No?

They both laugh.

THOMAS: Never. Not once. I’m not sure he’d recognize flour if he met it.

DARIO: That’s not true.

Thomas and Noel turn to look at Dario, who’s carefully pouring honey into a bowl.

THOMAS: No?

DARIO: No. He once… 

Dario pauses, stops the flow of honey with a dramatic flourish, and sets the bottle down. Then he looks up.

DARIO: He once threatened to tie me to a stake in the desert and leave me there if I answered one more lecture question wrong.

Thomas and Noel stare. Jess, a spatula in his hand, lifts his head to stare as well. Dario looks at all of them in turn.

DARIO: Well, that’s baking-adjacent, isn’t it?

\----

NOEL: Bakers! You’ve hit the halfway mark. Two hours are gone, you have TWO HOURS left. 

JESS: Oh, God.

SANDI: Are you worrying, darling?

Jess sighs, shaking his head, working hard to use a small cord to cut a cake evenly.

SANDI: No, you mustn’t worry, what do you need? You look to be in great shape!

JESS: I was warned. Sandi. They said, from the beginning, this would get nerve-wracking. And I laughed at them. I honestly, loudly laughed. 

SANDI: Well, it’s an absurd thing to worry about. Fussing around a kitchen. You've been in battles! Actual ones!

JESS: I've been in all kinds of scrapes. I’ve nearly died plenty of times. 

SANDI: Precisely. What could possibly happen in a kitchen that’s as scary as that? 

JESS: This! This right here. It’s terrifying. I'm garroting a cake and if I don't do it right, the whole thing's ruined. Ruined! All these eyes on me. The CLOCK. So much pressure not to look like a raving idiot.

Thomas mutters loudly from his station.

THOMAS: These aren't right.

SANDI: What’s that?

Thomas presses a gentle hand to the top of the cake coming out of the pan. The cake looks short and wrinkly.

THOMAS: These aren't good. The texture isn’t right. I’ve done something wrong.

Thomas looks upset. Jess and Dario both turn his way at their stations.

THOMAS: I’ll have to remake them.

DARIO: You sure?

JESS: Alright there, Thomas?

Thomas already has the flour back out.

THOMAS: They won’t taste right. I’ve got to remake them.

Jess and Dario exchange a quick glance between them, and mostly return to their work. Thomas seems content enough adding ingredients to the mixer again.

\----

Jess uses a pastry bag to place the filling for his macarons. Sandi stands nearby.

SANDI: Now. I'm told… is this another Santi family recipe? The macarons?

JESS: It is, in fact!

SANDI: You’ve used Santi recipes before.

JESS: Yes.

For an instant, Dario is glaring at Jess’ back as Sandi and Jess chat.

SANDI: And yet - correct me if I’m wrong - but you are not, _technically_ speaking, a Santi?

JESS: That is correct.

SANDI: Alright, I’ve meant to ask. All three of you are friends with the former Lord Commander Santi, and yet you, Jess, are the only one here who speaks of having family recipes of his, what exactly hap-

Dario: That shall not be SPOKEN OF.

Sandi looks with wary amusement at Dario. Thomas giggles.

THOMAS: Dario, you have-

DARIO: NOT. SPOKEN OF. THOMAS.

Sandi leans in toward Jess, conspiratorially and expectantly. Jess winks at her.

JESS: I’ll tell you later, Sandi.

SANDI: Catch me up later, Jess, I'm counting on it.

\----

The camera catches Jess as he works to fasten one part of his cake construction together. It’s a somewhat complicated set of platforms, and as he works on one platform, he doesn’t notice another one - currently holding part of his cake - leaning into a wild tilt.

DARIO: Jess, Jess, JESS!

Dario runs and catches the sliding round of the cake in his hands, keeping it from dropping off the platform just as Jess realizes what’s going on, and tries to reach himself. Dario stands there, holding it.

DARIO: I’m good, I’ve got this, just fix your piece.

Dario holds his piece in place while Jess assess and fixes multiple structural supports. Then a timer goes off at Dario’s station. Thomas’ head pops up from his work and heads toward Dario’s station.

THOMAS: What’s that alarm for, Dario?

DARIO: The macarons, can you pull them out, please? Thank you, Thomas.

Dario remains at Jess’ cake. Thomas pulls Dario’s macarons out of the oven. Jess is gratefully muttering to Dario.

Sandi looks directly into the camera with puppy dog eyes. 

\----

Noel sticks his head over Dario’s shoulder as Dario speedily spreads buttercream frosting all over a large section of cake.

NOEL: Now, Jess and Thomas are both sweating. They’re both getting-

DARIO: Of course they are.

NOEL: They’re getting-

Noel laughs.

NOEL: "Of course they are," he says smoothly. They're getting a bit damp and wobbly. What are you up to? Are you worried about this? 

Dario pauses, frowns at his cake thoughtfully, and shakes his head.

DARIO: I don’t worry. It’s not in my nature.

\----

NOEL: You have five minutes left, bakers!

There is an audible gasp, and every baker kicks into a faster pace. 

Jess has only just wrapped a beautiful blue stream of spun sugar around the top layer of his frosted cake, and is now reaching for his completed macarons to begin to place them around the cake. The macarons are of varying sizes, and Jess is placing them in an irregular order around the edges of his lower tiers.

Dario stops fussing over his frosting layer and begins heaping delicate, pale orange, chocolate-dipped macarons around the cake. His flowers sit to the side of an otherwise bare but impeccably iced cake.

Thomas has before him a towering, dark chocolatey cake, with flourishes of frosting and perfectly drizzled cherry sauce. Between the top two layers is a coppery stand a few inches tall, and Thomas is fiddling with metal bits that look like they will soon be attached.

The bakers work feverishly. The music swells --

NOEL: And time is UP! Bakers, step away from your bakes!!

Thomas steps back from his cake, and nods. Jess pulls his hands off his cake, turns at the camera with a delirious smile, and slowly and gently drops flat to the floor, eyes closed. Dario, leaning on his own station now, looks at Jess unbothered. He turns to the camera.

DARIO: I know he’s alright, because he didn’t shout “I’m fine” as he collapsed. Had he done that, I would be worried now.

The view cuts to outside the tent, where several full picnic tables sit on a warm, summer day. Previously eliminated bakers, along with friends and family, are enjoying a reception and await news of the winner of the competition.

Inside, Noel, Sandi and Paul have now gathered at the head of the tent. 

SANDI: Now, for judging today, bakers, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is, Prue has been called away suddenly on a family emergency. I have no other details, but we wish everyone involved well and send them our love. In the meantime, we have the great luck to have found a highly qualified guest judge.

Camera pans to Glain Wathen entering the tent in crisp yet casual High Garda uniform. Paul shakes her hand and squeezes her shoulder. Bakers are shocked.

SANDI: This savior of ours is Lieutenant Commander Glain Wathen of the Great Library High Garda. Lieutenant Commander, I believe you know our bakers.

JESS: What?

THOMAS: Glain! Hi!

DARIO: She's a soldier! What does she know about cakes, for God’s sake?

Paul shows surprise at Dario's comment.

PAUL: What does she know? Have you not heard of Agnes Wathen? Or Dafydd Wathen?

Dario looks confused and wary. Glain takes a restful alert position and explains.

GLAIN: My aunt is a highly decorated pastry chef, Dario. And my brother is currently revolutionizing Welsh baking.

DARIO: Oh. Well, then. You should… judge my cake, I suppose.

PAUL: She will!

SANDI: Alright, let’s find out what that horde waiting for you out on the lawn will be eating. Thomas, please bring your cake up first.

Thomas easily carries a massive, four-tier cake to the judging stand in front of Paul, Glain and the hosts.

GLAIN: That’s very pretty, Thomas.

PAUL: Tell us about your cake, Thomas.

THOMAS: My base is a chocolate cake with cherry pieces in it, with a few layers of a reduced cherry drizzle in there, and more on top. The frosting is a boiled-milk buttercream, or an ermine buttercream I think you call it. And then, that was a lot of softness, or so I hoped, so I made the biscuits a big crumbly chunky chocolate biscuit with cherry bits in them as well.

PAUL: Thomas, you’ve done a nice job with the decoration. The drizzle is quite professional. What is the metal piece here, though, is this your book reference?

THOMAS: Yes. It’s a water organ. Or more accurately, a brandy organ.

As everyone cranes their head in anticipation, Thomas lifts a small decanter of brandy and pours some into a reservoir in the base of the top cake tier. Then he spins the cake on its pedestal, until a small panel with squares faces Paul.

THOMAS: There are the keys there, I only had room for three. It’s playable. You can play us a song, Paul.

DARIO: Yes, play us a song!

Everyone laughs as Paul reaches for the panel and taps the keys. Sweet, small whistling sounds emanate from the cake. There is a round of applause.

GLAIN: That’s good, Thomas.

PAUL: Very well done, yes. So your book is an engineering volume I expect?  _ The Invention of the Brandy Organ _ ?

THOMAS: Heron invented the water organ, and perfected it. The only thing I could do to make it better was to add alcohol.

Everyone laughs.

NOEL: Prue will be so sad she missed the alcoholic musical instrument cake.

PAUL: She certainly will. Alright, let’s taste this.

The cake is cut, and Glain and Paul eat as they consider their thoughts.

GLAIN: Good solid bang of chocolate, and of cherry, Thomas, without getting oversweet.

PAUL: Yeah. You used the proper chocolate to really punch us with that richness, but even with the cherry added, it’s still not too sugary. You showed restraint there too. And the brandy’s there, without overpowering.

GLAIN: Agreed. Good brandy notes.

NOEL: Notes! Ha!

Glain and Paul look deadpan at Noel, while everyone else chuckles.

NOEL: Do you get it? Because it's got an organ in it?

Paul turns back to Thomas stone-faced while the others giggle.

PAUL: You managed a good bake on your bottom layer, which can be difficult. It needs to be firm, to handle that weight, and you did that, without making it overdry.

Glain has been eating a biscuit.

GLAIN: Good biscuit too.

PAUL: Is it? 

Paul takes a bite of a biscuit.

PAUL: It is. Well done there, Thomas. I would have ideally wanted to see a bit more sophistication in your flavors, in your decoration. In your biscuits. But you gave us a warm, cozy, flavorful, well-executed cake. This is the tastiest musical instrument I’ve ever eaten.

THOMAS: Thank you very much.

Thomas carries his cake back to his station with a huge grin on his face. Jess winks at him and Dario gives him a smile.

SANDI: Dario, you’re up next.

DARIO: Of course, I’ll follow that. Certainly.

Dario bring s a three-tiered cake to the judges’ stand. The frosting is an ombre spread of pink, peach, and multiple shades of orange, strongly suggesting a sunset. The cake is decorated with sugared flowers, and with orange macarons dipped in chocolate, with two embracing figures in brown and orange fondant standing at the top of the cake and looking at each other.

PAUL: Your book was  _ Daphnis and Chloe _ ?

DARIO: Yes.

PAUL: Lovely rather  _ symbolic  _ pastoral setting on your cake to match the sheep-herding. And then the figures plopped on top.

GLAIN: It hurt you to put the figures on top, didn’t it?

DARIO: Very much so.

PAUL: The figures do not have the same glamour as the rest of the cake. That’s a great look, though, otherwise. Very professional, very beautiful.

Paul slices the cake and they judge. Glain lets out a short hum.

GLAIN: Your texture’s off.

PAUL: Shes right. Too little moisture, Dario. Always a challenge. Again, you’ve got a lot of weight for it to carry, with the higher tiers on top. You want it to be sturdy, and it’s tempting to dry it out to keep it intact, you just took that a bit too far here. Not a lot, just a little dry.

GLAIN: The aniseed, though, it’s just ideal. It’s at a very good balance with the orange, which is so bright and fresh and so flavorful. Very good balance, I’m quite serious about that.

DARIO: I know you must be, to pay me a compliment!

GLAIN: It’s difficult. It pains me! But you’ve earned it. That flavor is perfect.

PAUL: It’s a good balance, yeah. The anise seed numbs the mouth but you don’t go overboard so you just get a pleasant little tingle.

GLAIN: The flowers are edible, yeah?

DARIO: Of course.

Glain chews and nods, while Paul reaches for a flower.

GLAIN: It’s a good pairing. It continues that sweet-savory-tart balance of the aniseed and the orange. There’s that little twinge of organic bitterness in the flower. And then the sugar. It’s pleasantly round on the palate.

PAUL: Your macarons are beautiful. Perfect pale gold on that orange batter. Good foot on it.

He and Glain both reach for macarons. Paul takes a bite and nods.

GLAIN: Without the aniseed, or the flower, you’ve just got orange and chocolate. Which is a solid combination. It’s a sweeter flavor, like it’s another dessert after your previous dessert. First you have the complexity, then just the punch of orange chocolate. It’s good.

PAUL: Almost too sweet. But not quite. You finally really notice that tartness to the orange. Good. Good layering of flavors. Well done, Dario.

DARIO: Thank you very much.

Dario carries his cake back to his station, and Thomas helps Jess carry Jess’ cake to the judges.

SANDI: Tell us about your cake, Jess.

JESS: It’s a pistachio cake, with coffee added to it. The buttercream has cardamom, and coffee in it as well. The biscuits are coffee-flavored macarons with mascarpone filling.

PAUL: And the design?

JESS: In the travelogue  _ Inventio Fortunata _ , a friar visits the North Pole, which he describes as an island surrounded by a whirlpool, with four continents around that whirlpool. So that’s what I have here.

GLAIN: I’m not sure about your whirlpool, Jess.

PAUL: I like the whirlpool. It’s a little simplistic but it works for me. Decent sugar work, which wasn’t a requirement. And your macarons, those are coastlines, aren’t they?

JESS: They are.

PAUL: I like that.

GLAIN: The larger structure for your cake is… it’s weird. But then again, a legend about the North Pole isn’t going to make it out to be ordinary place.

Paul cuts and plates the cake, and the judges eat.

GLAIN: My biggest fear, this being something that Jess made, is that we would cut into it and just meet a wall of solidified coffee. Just nothing but concentrated, hardened Alexandrian coffee and we’d all be awake for three days straight. But no, it turns out there are other flavors in here too.

JESS: Imagine that.

GLAIN: It’s a pleasant surprise.

PAUL: It is a bit too much coffee flavor for me, if I’m honest. If I eat the cake without the frosting, there’s a really nice pistachio layer, but I lose some of that pistachio with the frosting, they fight each other, again just a bit. 

GLAIN: You’re splitting hairs because it’s the final, aren’t you?

PAUL: It’s just a bit too much coffee. For me. But, it’s not enough to drown out the cardamom at the end, that comes through very nicely. 

GLAIN: The cardamom is a very good addition. Good texture too.

PAUL: It’s a decent texture, for a cake this size, yes.

Paul and Glain both try macarons of various sizes.

PAUL: This macaron is one of the best things you’ve made, Jess. Delicious.

GLAIN: And well done nailing various sizes.

PAUL: Yes. Good job, there.

NOEL: Alright, bakers. You’ve presented your cakes to Paul and to Glain. Now it’s time to give them privacy to discuss their judgments, while you all take your cakes out and join the party.

The boys carry their cakes out onto the lawn, to join friends and family. Thomas carries his cake to a table where his parents sit, while Khalila greets Dario at another table nearby. Nic and Chris close in to see the cakes better.

Sandi, Noel, Paul and Glain eventually join them.

SANDI: And the winner of this year’s Great Library Bake-Off is…

The crowd waits quietly, if not patiently.

SANDI: With his marvelous musical cake, Thomas Schreiber!

Thomas’ face lights up. Dario and Jess hug him, while Paul hands him an engraved crystal cake stand as a trophy.

Wolfe and Nic tilt in to reach the boys and separately get hold of each one of them and pat a shoulder or tousle hair. The cakes are passed around through the crowds, the party clearly prepared to continue for some time.

And the credits roll.

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a baker. I just watch a ton of this show. I hope the baking elements weren’t wince-worthy.
> 
> Try as I might, I cannot figure out how water organs work. So we’ll all just have to pretend a small one could fit in a cake. It’s Thomas, he’s a miracle worker. 
> 
> You can read about the horror of the ink stain on Daphnis and Chloe here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnis_and_Chloe
> 
> Inventio Fortunata did, in fact, describe the North Pole as a magnetic island surrounded by a whirlpool and four continents... at least as far as we can tell, since it’s gone now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventio_Fortunata


End file.
